Regenerating Soil, Securing Tomorrow
08 December 2025, Africa:
For decades, agricultural soils have been treated as if they were infinite. Maize and wheat fields continue producing, harvests move forward, and life prospers atop a layer we assume is immutable. But science paints a different picture: this living, microscopic, and vital universe is undergoing accelerated degradation that jeopardizes its fertility, the economic stability of thousands of rural communities, and global food security. The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) warns that up to 33 percent of the world’s soils are already degraded, a condition that directly reduces their capacity to provide food, water, and essential ecosystem services. Furthermore, 1.66 billion hectares are considered degraded due to human activities, and 1.7 billion people live in areas where agricultural yields have fallen by at least 10 percent due to soil deterioration. In Latin America and the Caribbean, the FAO estimates that up to 75 percent of soils show some degree of degradation, generating cumulative economic costs that affect productivity, incomes, and social well-being.